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ALABAMA. 



What resources has Alabama? is an iniiuiry of decliuing importance. 
What is being done with them"? has usurped the old interest in tlie first 
(juery. Not that all her native wealth has been measured and mapjied or 
even discovered, for much searching below the surface is still in progress, 
not without reward. But developing wealth means much mere to men 
than natural riches, and human interest in growing and expanding indus- 
try is now tense and strained in Alabama. 

What may be called the industrial literature of the State, affords an 
apt and unmistakable illustration of the point. In the eighties there was 
a mighty boom, and the pamphleteers and newspapers ponred a tide of ink 
through the land. The story was of the ores and the coal and the limber 
and soil possibilities, and the industries that were coming, while gay maps 
were showy with dotted lines of railroads yet to be. 

The literature of this good year 1901, issued by well-organized com- 
mercial bodies and the railroads, and the trade editions of the papers, deal 
rather with mines and furnaces and railroads and factories in operation 
and with farm improvements already here. For an instance, it was for- 
merly customary in pamphlets like this to say that the soil of Alabama is 

admirably adapted to the production of rice and sugar cane. Handsome pictures on some other pages of this 

little book show a rice harvest and a cauelfield ready for the knife. 

In short, Alabama is in the full tide of an era of development that is the astonishment of her own people 




^AMFt^RD. 



aDcl the best of all invitations to the investor and the worker. 

True, except in llie nialter of coal and iron, development in Alabama long proceeded slowly and gradually, 
BO that its extent was hardly realized by the people who were working it out. Comparisons covering periods 
wide apart show rather startling changes. Latterlj-, comparisons are made of each year with its predecessor. 

Area. — The area of Alabama is 52,2.50 square miles, or 32,46o,0S0 acres. Of this, three-fourths is arable. 
One-sixth is underlaid with minerals in workable quantities. At least two-thirds is yet covered with forest 
growth, much of it valuable as timber. 

Population. — The population of Alabama is 1,828,697, a gain of 20.8 per cent, since 1890. This is only two- 
tenths of one per cent, less than the gain of the country as a whole, and exceeds the gains of the East. 

AN AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. 

Not without signiticance as indicating the progressive spirit of the people, is the existence of a well-organ- 
ized Agricultural Department as a part of the State government. Tnder this Department, statistics are gath- 
ered and information on agricultural subjects disseminated among the people. Lecturers are sent among the 
farmers and institutes held for the discussion of practical subjects. As a part of the same impulse towards 
improvement, two regular experiment stations are maintained and an agricultural high school has been estab- 
lished in each of the congressional districts. The Department works in harmony with the State Agricultural 
and Mechanical College at Auburn. This Department, also, under special provision of law, makes displays of 
the products of Alabama at interstate and international expositions, and has now an exhibit at the Pan-Ameri- 
can Exposition at Buffalo. 

AGRICULTURE. 

Tilling the soil is the most important industry of the people in Alabama, and rapid as the gain has been in 
mining and manufacturing, it does not appear that the farmer is to be left in the race. Not only does he meas- 
urably keep pace in numbers, but real progress in method and economy and variety of product, is becoming as- 




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"»;■■■ *» 


















noteworthy atuoDg the fields as by the streets of Alabama. The fertility of the soil where it was exhausted 
under the old regime, is being steadily restored by intelligent fertilization, care for the land and rotation of 
crops, while factory, mine and 
saw mill are a direct stimulus 
and aid to agriculture in the 
markets thej* afford and the 
transportation facilities they 
encourage and promote. 

The census of J900 shows 
the gain of population in Ala- 
bama during the ten years to 
have been liO.S per cent. The 
gain in rural population was 
18.4 per cent. This is a really 
wonderful testimony to improv- 
ing agricultural conditions in 
Alabama, when we consider that 
for many years farm desertit)n 
was the despair of thoughtful 
men. The old time when cotton, 
corn and the sweet potato patch 
made up the round of ett'ort, is 
a long way oft' now. Worn out 
lands are being reclaimed and 
made fertile, forests are being 




-cleared away, the farms improved, the crops varied, and the things for sale and use multiplied beyond the hop© 

of former examples. 

The Soil. — The soil of Alabama is of infinite varietj'. In the middle portion, prairie predominates, though 
interspersed with the rich alluvium of the river valleys and bottoms along the creeks. Taking the State as a 

^•hole, the most common soil is the light loam overlying a subsoil of clay. Much of the soil in the pine regions 

to the south is sandy, though this is inter- 
spersed with a thin loam on a red clay bed. 
Between the four dominant soils are found 
every gradation known to soil composi- 
tion, including the thick limy loams of the 
mountain valleys. The products seem, 
however, rather a matter of climate and 
fertility, than of soil composition, since 
scarce a plant or tree that grows in one 
(loos not flourish in the ottiers. Tlie prai- 
ries and alluvial deposits are of seemingly 
inexhaustible fertility; the red lauds are 
maintained with little manuring and are 
easily restored when worn; the sandy soils 
respond to fertilization, and under the 
stimulus of the mineral ingredients now 
so abundant and so cheap, they are the 
seat of a thriving and prosperous popula- 

THE ALAltAMA KICK HARVEST. ^ IT f L c 

tion. In large sections of Southern Ala- 
bama, the home-seeker is following the saw mill, and the thin lands that grew the pine are being transformed 
into fruitful fields and flowering orchards. 




Climate. — The cliuiate of Alabama is sunny enoii<;h to bring cotton to 
its best perfection and to give its sweetest, truest flavor to every frnit tbat 
grows lu temperate and sub-tropical latitudes. The mercury rarely rises 
to a hundred as it rarely falls to zero — a narrow range. In the hot- 
test spells of summer it falls at night fifteen or twenty[degrees, refreshing 
the sweltering people and saving them from sunstroke and the exhaustion 
of more northern localities. There is rainfall enough to thread the land 

with riveis and creeks and brooks 
and pom from the hillsides every- 
where many thousands of never fail- 
ing springs. 

Dividing the State for meteoro- 
logical purposes into the noi-ihern or 
mountain region, the middle or prai- 
rie and alluvial region, and the south- 
ern or gulf coast region, we have 

annual average temperatures as fol- Troi->;o afkica. 

lows: Northern, 61°; Middle, 04°; 
Southern, 66°. 

The average rainfall is as follows: Northern, 149.02 inches; Middle, 47.0.3 inches; Southern, 5.5.87 inches. - 
The average dates of the first killing frosts of autumn are: At Birmingham, in the Northern district, 
October oOtli; at Montgomery, in the Middle district, Xo\ember 7th; and at Mobile, in the Southern district, 
November Itlth. 

The average dates of the last killing frosts are: |At Birmingham, March 2Sth: at Montgomery, March 12th; 
and at Mobile, February 20th. 

These averages are based on observations of thejWeather Bureau of the Vuited States Department of Agri- 





A RIVER LANDING. 



culture, covering a series of twenty-eight years. They bear out the statement that the climate is mild and 
equable, guiltless of extremes. The long range of time between the latest and the earliest killing frosts, shows 
how and why it is common here to produce from the same land two and even three crops in a single season. 

With such a soil and such a climate it is no wonder that the farmers of Alabama have caught the quick 
step of progress, have adopted the lessons of experience and of experiment and of economy, and are making 
merchandise of that of wliich once they boasted and talked under the grand generic name of "soil possibilities." 
Agricultural progress is neither a dream nor a theme, but an actual thing turning a growing list of products 
into the channels of commerce. 

HeuHh. — Closely related to climate is the subject of health. The well -organized luedical department of the 
State has carefully gathered statistics through manj years, and the average death rate among the people as a 
whole is found to be about 13 per thousand. In the cities the average is about 20. with a maximum of 25. 
With these tignres anyone can institute comparisons for himself with other States and cities. 

SiufJe Crops. — Historically speaking, the staple crops in Alabama were cotton, corn, and sweet potatoes. 

The jioint of interest here is uot so much the extent to which we have 
increased the production of these, but to what extent have we increased 
the list and thus brought into practical and commercial use the variety 
(if wealth producing vegetation adapted to our mild climate and varied 
soil. 

If by "staple crops" we mean those that are regularly, profitably 
and systematically raised for purposes of cousumptiou, use or sale, we 
must greatly increase the list. We must add peas, oats, sugar cane, 
melons, rye, barley, wheat, vegetables, strawberries, peaches, pears, 
grapes, mellilotus, alfalfa, vetch, Johnson grass, pea vines, peanuts, 
clover, timothy, rice and tobacco. Nor must it be overlooked that some 
of the now staple products of every farm have developed from patches 




into fields. The potato, the pea, sugar caue, rice, tobacco, and even oats, formerly raised iu a small way for 
home consumption only, have become money crops, regularly and systematically put upon the market. 

Cotton. — This great staple is grown in all parts of the State and is still the most general source of the money 
supply of the people. It brings to the State as raw material more than $30,000,000 per annum. Xotwithstand- 
ing the increased acreage and production of other crops, it has more than doubled in thirty years. 

Cotton Seed.— The seed of the cotton never went to waste in Alabama, but was foriuei-ly used as manure in 
its raw state. It is now a great article of commerce, and a money crop. Every two bales of (cotton lepresents 
a ton of seed, and the 500,000 tons produced iu the State are worth $5,000,000. If only half the seed are sold, 
the value to the farmer in money is $2,500,000. These seed are turned into oil, meal and hulls, and are shipped 
to evei y part of the world as staple articles of commerce. 

Corn. — Every farm has its corn field and the yield is limited only by the fertility of the soil. Forty bushels 
to the acre is not an uncommon yield, while the thin lands respond profitably to a little manuring. 

Street Potatoes. — The farms of Alabama have never been without their potato patch. Next to corn meal, it 
is and has always been, the most common article of food among the farm laborers. Every cabin has its patch 
and iu winter its "hill," an earthen mound or bed where the crop is stored for winter use. The yield is from 
200 to 800 bushels per acre, practically limitless. The extent of cultivation is limited by the uiarket and the 
needs of the household. In hard times, poor people have lived and made crops with the potato as the main 
diet. It is more nourishing than the Irish potato, having a large percentage of sugar, and is more abundant in 
its yield in this latitude. The market is mainly confined to the local urban population, and the increase of the 
latter through growth of factories, has largely increased the production of the potato. Improved methods of 
preservation through the winter have prolonged the marketing season, and the time is already here when last 
year's crop is obtainable almost until the new crop comes in. 

I'cas. — No agricultural development in Alabama surpasses the growing value of the common field pea. The 
pea it>elf is a staple article of food on the table of the humblest cottager and the lordliest hotel. The market is 
yet far beyond the production. The value of the vine as a soil fertilizer and a rough food for animals has been 
known for many years, but it is only in the recent past that the body of the people have come to realize its full 







mamm. 




TALIL,ASSEB FALLS WATER POWER. 



importauce and to get the most out of it. Planted npou worn out lauds, the pea produces a fair crop and leaves 
the soil always richer. The viue turned under, rapidly restores fertility. Its value in this respect is derived 
from the nitrogen which it draws from the air and that which is stored in the roots. It is even claimed that 
the vine may be taken oft' for hay and the roots will yet leave the ground in better shape than they found it. 
But at a certain .stage of growth, the vines make a most nutritious hay, and the yield runs from a ton on the 
poorest land to three tons on soils of average fertility. It may be truly said that progressive farming in Ala- 
bama is measured by the attention paid to the tield pea. 

Siiyay Cane. — The Alabama farmer who does not make his own 
molasses, and a far better quality than he can buy on the general 
market, is behind the times. The sugar cane patch is becoming as 
universal as the garden sjiot. Here and there a farmer has his own 
mill and boilers, but usually each neighborhood has its traveling mill 
which goes from farm to farm making up the crop. The molasses 
thus made is sold in the towns and cities at fair prices. S'or is the 
home-made sugar left in the bottoms of the barrels a despised item 
of farm economy. Four hundred gallons per acre is not an uncom- 
mon product. Manure is recjuired on the soils of Alabama and there 
is hence no prospect of cane raising on the plantation system. But 
as part and parcel of general farming, nothing adds so much to the 
purse or the comfort of tbe Alabama farmer. The cane thus raised m-trF-p scen-e o.v akm,m«a k.v, ... 

on our lands in Alabama is richer in sucrose than that of Louisiana 

by two per cent. Through neighborhood co-operation, this cane can be turned into sugar by the most improved 
proces.ses, and thus a source of wealth is opened up which is so much gain, not interfering with the general oper- 
ations of the farms as heretofore pursued. 

Jfdi/. — Much has been written and much said of the grasses of Alabama, an almost infinite variety flourish- 
ing here. In the Tennessee valley clover has long been successfully grown. Ot its own accord and as a volun- 




Mm 



tary visitor, both white and yellow clover 
are spreading over the old tields and along 
the highways as far south as Montgoaiery 
•where it is proving valuable for pasture. 
The staple grasses for hay crops are, the 
old native crab grass, the imported John- 
son grass, niellilotus, alfalfa, timothy, mil- 
lets of several kinds, and pea vines. Allu- 
sion has already been made to the last 
named. The crab nourishes everywhere 
and has the advantage that it can be alter- 
nated with other crops without replanting. 
The Johnson grass makes a coarssr hay 
and is raised on laud given over to itself. 
On good soils in the prairies and river 
lands, it produces from year to year an 
average of three tons per acre and requires 
no cultivation. The great grazing grass of 
the country is Bermuda, which is tenacious, 
requires no attention, is rich in butter qual- 
ities, and attbrds pasturage for nine months of the year. Mellilotus has been found to restore fertility to the 
ba d and worn prairie soils in a few years, and is invaluable in middle Alabama. Other grasses are of areat 
value, and only await development to multiply many fold the varieties in practical use as money produ'cers 

7 I'lr^^ """ ''"•^' '™P ''^ produced with so little labor that will commaud on any market at any tinie 
Irom *20 to *oO per acre in money. 



ivps 



iL'Ivl' COAST H( 



IE. M. A O. R. R. 



0«««.-Alabama produces oats quite equal to those of any other part of the country and forty to sixty 

bushels per acre is no^ an unusual yield. Rye and barley are raised in s.nall quantities, the local demand not 

iustifviug their rapid substitution for more profitable crops. t* • i ■ 

'L -Precept upon precept has resulted at last in a forward movement in the cultnre of rice. It is being 

raised on the uplands, though many thousands of acres of bottoms are waiting and adapted tor this crop. Even 

u the up mds'a crop of seventy-five bushels is not a rarity. Hitherto the rice patches on the farm ha^-e been 

scarce simplv t^.r lack of mills to clean it when produced. Abont ten rice mills have now however, been put 

nroperarion in South Alabama, and in 1890 these cleaned over 50,000 bushels for the small larmers who raised 

it u patches. Some of these patches are being enlarged to fields, and the industry is a rapidly growing one^ 

The Lue of the rice crop ranges from ^..O to ^100 per acre, being greater than that of any other grain crop 

grown auv where in the world. v ,„ .. i;ffi«. 

To/.«.;o.-Alabama has long produced tobacco in a s<.rt of domestic way, tlie poorer farmers raising a little 

for home use. It is now becoming a commercial crop, expe- 

' riment having shown that Cuba has little if any advantage 

over our southern counties in the matter of quality. At 

Geneva is a cigar factory that not only uses the home-grown 

article, but raises its own supplies. Over six hundred acres 

are under cultivation in that community, and the cigar is 

popular in the market, ranking high in every respect. 

Cattif liamiui. — A great stimulus has of recent years been 
given to cattle raising. Buyers from the West unexpectedly 
made their appearance at every farm house in the State, 
anxious to buy up cattle for shipment to the Western grazing 
lands. It was like a windfall. The farmer hardly looked 
upon the few head which he had allowed to grow up about 
him, as being a money asset. There was no market. The in the golu KEfiu.Ns. 




Western buyer rapidly cleaaert out the country. But the farmer had learned his lesson of the buy 
and everywhere the effort is making not only to supply the 
demand but to supply it with an animal that will bring- a 
better price. 

Bain/in;/. — The growth of the towns and cities has been 
accompanied by increasing attention to dairying. Dairymen 
have multiplied sufficiently to have organized their industry. 
The demand for milk is everywhere abundantly supplied by 
the delivery wagons of suburban farmers. Farther out there 
is increasing production of butter, selling at twenty-five cents 
the pound, but there seems to be yet a vast margin between 
the supply and demaud. No industry would seem to be more 
inviting than butter making in Alabama, where many of the 
native tarmers still reluctantly abandon the old cotton one- 
crop habit and leave the more profitable branches of the bus- 
iness open to their more enterprising neighbors. But little 
feeding is necessary, and even in winter the cow gets part of 
her living in the open pasture. 

It is a fact that an Alabama cow, fed on a Madison county 
farm, holds the world's butter record for a year's product. 

Sheej) (1)1(1 Goats. — The same impulse that is drawing atten- 
tion to cattle, is moving the farmers to increase their flocks 
of sheep and goats. The market has developed and there is 
movement to supply it. Special inquiries by the State Agri- 
cultural Department brought uniform replies that the increase 
in the numbers of these animals is quite general and is 



er at his door 




attended with profitable results. There are wide ranges of unoccupied laud where they almost raise themselves. 
The wool produced by sheep iu the climate of Alabama is of long fibre and soft texture and commands a ready^ 
market. 

Hogs. — Iu former times Alabama raised uearlj' all her own meat. The long neglected hog is regaining his 
lost prestige, and home-raised meat for the table is becoming a rule, while the market towns are increasingly 
supplied with native and juicy hams as of yore. 

Storlc. — Alabama is still a large purchaser of mules from Tennessee and Kentucky, for use iu raising cotton. 
But she is raising an increasing number of her own. A few large stock farms have proven wonderfully success- 
ful in the breeding of line hoi'ses,and the impulse toward blooded stock is general. Xo community is now with- 
out the best strains from Tennessee and Kentucky, and horses with pedigrees are found everywhere. But the 
most gratifying progress in this respect is found in the fact that the small farmer is raising one or two colts as 
a part of the general farm economy. He is taking advantage of the natural increase of the horse and displac- 
ing the expensive mule. This plays no small part iu the evidently increasing prosperity of the small farmer. 
On the open pastures of the open Southern winters, it costs less than -^25 to raise a colt to maturity. 

Market Gardenmg. — For a good many years the business of market gardening on a large scale iu Alal)ania 
was confined to the gulf coast around Mobile. But the business has spread northward. Evergreen and Brew- 
ton and Cullman have become great shipping points, and the industry is growing around all the larger towns. 
The development of local markets has furnished the stimulus, and thus the general development of manufac- 
tures and commerce has reacted upon agriculture to the latter's benefit. 

Fruit. — Melon growing for shipment has long been profitably carried on in Southeastern Alabama. But no 
part of the State seems favored above another for the general growing of fruit. Strawberries are grown and 
shipped without regard to locality. Peaches are grown for sale in all localities, generally for the local markets. 
But there is an ever-growing surplus finding its way northward and westward. Fortunately, we can leave gen- 
eralities here aud paint the Alabama fruit story by the simple statement of a fact, viz: Xear Huntsville, Ala.> 
are two of the largest nurseries in the world, aud one of them is a branch of a nursery at Rochester, New York. 
There are successsul nurseries at Montgomery, Evergreen, Mobile, Ashland, and iu Washington aud Covingtoa 




A GENERAL, FIELD SCENE. 




.-^^-^iMaBi&t 



i.iill^k::'^lt<- 



aud other counties. 

It must be confessed, howevei', that the grand possi- 
bilities of fruit as a money crop in Alabama are just begin- 
ning to be realized and made available. Hitherto fruit has 
contributed to the pleasure, the comfort and the health of 
the inhabitants rather than to their protit. The people of 
Alabama can have, with only the trouble of planting, the 
tig, pomegranate, scupperuong, raspnerry, currant, pecan, 
peach, apple, pear, quince, plum in infinite variety, cherry, 
etc., and on the coast the luscious orange. Growing wild, 
in utmost profnsion, are the blackberry, haw, locust, per- 
simmon, chestnut, chinquapin, muscadine, wild grape, 
common plum, wild cherry, huckleberrj- and hickory nut. 
<ioi.i. ^^lAMH 5UI.I.. Nowhere can the principles of farm economy be invoked 

with more profit than by him who will turn to account the 
infinite variety of fruits that llourish on the Alabanui farm. 

The profit in growing fruit and grapes is not a matter of experiment. The business is an established and 
growing one. Fruitdale, in Washington county, near the gulf, is a nourishing community based upon fruit 
growing. Cullman is another. Fruithurst and Thorsby are grape-growing colonies in the foothills of the 
iiu)untains. 

Land Values. — A gratifying and indisputable evidence of improving and profitable agriculture in Alabama 
is the increase of land values and the cash market for farms. The lands of Montgomery, for instance, are now- 
assessed for taxation at a higher price than they commanded in the market twenty years ago. In the fine 
prairie region between the Alabama aud Tombigbee rivers, almost no land is for sale at any price, aud only 
occasional sales are made at from $20 to $50 per acre for improved farms. The red lands bring from $5 to $10 
against from $3 to $5 not many years ago. The same increase is true of the valley and pine lands, though it 



may be truly said that all land yet sells below its real value — below its rental value. The prices still invite the 
investor aud home-seeker. The rising values are encouraging as showing the progress of events 

Public Lands. — There are still ojien to homestead entry in Alabama 359,250 acres of public land, of which 
177,490 acres are in the northern part of the State, aud 181,760 acres in the mitldle and southern sections. The 
land offices are located at Huntsville and Montgomery. The lands themselves are mostly of thin, light soils^. 
capable of quick improvement. There are 
also 58,000 acres of mineral lands, which 
are reserved by the government. 

Good Roads. — Closely related to the 
subject of agricultural progress, is that of 
good roads, the building of which is one of 
the striking manifestations of improving 
rural conditions in Alabama. These roads 
are built by the counties and began in a 
tentative wtiy by small bond issues as ex- 
periments. So gratifying was the result 
and so wise was the investment proven to 
be, that one county followed another 
and "good road" acts area special feature 
of all sessions of the State legislature. 
These roads cost from $2,000 to $3,500 per 
mile, according to the character of the 
country and the distance from material, 
and are maintained by regular annual ap- 
propriations, there being not a toll-gate in 
Alabama. In Jefferson county there are 




lANANA WABEHOOSE, MOBILE & OHIO K. R. 



more thau 200 miles, in Montgomery 110 
miles. Madison and Colbert are leading 
counties, and in many others the mileage 
steadily increases year by year. The good 
roads picture on another page of this pam- 
phlet shows a wagon loaded with thirty-six 
bales of cotton, a weight of 18,000 pounds, 
brought iuto Montgomery a distance of 
twenty miles in the winter season. Before 
the advent of the macadamized road, empty 
wagons were wout to have a hard time of 
it over these prairies. The economy of the 
improvement is manifested in improving 
country houses, growing contentment with 
farm surroundings and social life, and 
increasing land values. 

BankiHf/ C(q)ilal.— There are one hundred 
and twenty-six banks and banking houses 
in Alabama. Some of these do not give 
., ,.,. . ^ , their capital, but those which do make up 

the gratifying total of ¥10,220,000.00. It would not be far out of the way to say the banking capital of the 
State IS in round numbers $11,000,000.00. The increase in the number of banks in recent years has not been in 
the cities, but the smaller towns, and is thus the more significant of general progress and development among 
the peop e. It is a witness to the fact that the little towns and the rural population have gotten away from the 
old simple commercial limit of selling cotton in the fall and buying it back in meat, corn and a few dry .^oods 
in the spring. \\ ,th the general development of the country has come a more complex commercial life and a 




MOBILE BAY. M. A- o. R. R 




GOOD ROADS IN ALAOAMA. 



trade that is uot coiitiued to a single season. The farmers themselves have moneys to deposit and exchanges to 
buy, and the little banks have gone out among them to meet a real demand. One enterprising gentleman in 
Montgomery has eslablislied five of these banks in the outlying towns, and another firm as many more. The 
multiplication of the small banks and the widening out of modern commercial life among the small communi- 
ties, is an evidence of thrift and progress quite as gratifying as the factories and furnaces of the larger towns 
and cities. 

RIVER SYSTEM. 

No State in the Union is better watered than is Alabama. Indeed, it may be questioned whether any other 
is watered so well. This does not refer to the magnificent river system only, but to the innumerable creeks and 
branches, brooks and springs that everywhere abound. Many of these creeks would be called rivers in Europe 
and the East. Two of the largest springs in the world are at Huntsville and Tuscumbia, pure water gushing 
out in quantities to run mills and supply great populations. In many places in the State are mineral springs 
long famous for their health-giving qualities, such as Blount, St. Clair and Talladega among the northern moun- 
tains, and Bladon in the far southwest. But the springs and lesser streams contribute to the comfort and health 
of the people. The river systems are nature's grand arteries ot commerce. 

The navigable streams are the Alabama, Coosa, Warrior, and Toml)igbee, whose waters, united, form 
Mobile river; the Tennessee, which dips down and crosses the northern part of the State; the Choctawhatchie, 
Conecuh, and Escambia, which flow into the gulf through Florida; the Tallapoosa and Cahaba, tributaries of 
the Alabama, and the Chattahoochee, which is the boundary line between the lower half of the State and Geor- 
gia. Of these, the Tallapoosa, Cahaba, Conecuh, and Escambia are not now navigated, railroads having drawn 
off the tralfic to the extent that the expense of keeping them open was deemed unnecessary. The combined 
length of the navigable waterways of Alabama is nearly two thousand miles. The greater part of this splendid 
system of rivers flows into Mobile bay, and before the advent of railroads centered a vast commerce at Mobile 
and made of it one of the most flourishing cities in the world. The revival of water traffic now going on all over 
the country, is doing no little to re-establish the ancient eminence of Alabama's only seaport. 



MINES AND MINERALS. 



It is somewhat beside the purpose of this little pamphlet to dwell upon the mineral riches of Alabama. 
These ai-e less than they were a hundred j'ears ago, before any of them were put to use. It is more to the point 
to tell of the great development of wealth and industry built upon them, giving use to capital and employment 
to labor. It is not amiss, however, to recall some leading facts which have long been household words. 

The three coal fields of the State, the Warrior, Coosa and Cahaba, have an aggregate of S.(;(m» si|n;no inilos. 
There are numerous workable seams, and the coal varies 
in quality, the best grate product being little inferioi to 
anthracite. The coking qualities are the very best, and 
the coal bears long water transportation. The seam«> lie 
near the surface, outcrops are numerous, and mining is 
easy and cheap. 

The principal deposit of iron ore is the great ledge 
running along Red Mountain for more than a bundled 
miles and reaching its best perfection at Birminghain 
Here tlie vein is from fifteen to thirty feet thick, and it 
mined to a depth of only four thousand feet would mij) 
ply all the furnaces of the State for three hundred and 
fifty years to come. The general average of metallic iron 
is, in the hard ores, 37 per cent.; in the soft, 52 per cent. 

The brown ores are found in several localities, about 
Talladega, Anniston, in Blount, Shelby and Franklin counties, and have 51 per cent, of metallic iron. 

The limestone and dolomite used for fluxing are in the same locality with the ores and coal, all three being 
assembled within a radius of five or six miles at the point of greatest advantage. It is the cheapness of mining 
and the nearness of the materials to each other, that has made of Alabama the center of the cheapest iron pro- 




v«. t»K>IOP(>LI!- 



diiction iu the world, giveu her the primacy of the Southern States, and made her a rival of Ohio and Pennsyl- 



Ocher mineral deposits in Alabama, all of which exist in workable quantities and most of which have beea 
more or less developed, are gold, copper, pyrites, graphite, mica, kaolin, magnetite, limestone, bauxite, clays, 
achre, marl)le and phosphate. 

_ Developed. — The magnitude of the indus- 

try built around this basis of mineral 
wealth, is shown by the following figures 
of production, compiled for 1900 by the 
statistical department of the State geolog- 
ical survey: 




Glial, short tons, 
Coke, short tons, 
Pig Iron, long tons, 
Iron Ore, long tons, 
Limestone for Flux, long tons, 
Dolomite for Flux, long ions, 
Biiikliug Stone, cubic feet. 
Bauxite, long tons, . 
0('hre, long tons, 
Lime, iu barrels, 
Vitrified or Paving Brick, 
Eefractory or Fire Brick, 
Common Brick, 



)-Sheff-isi.i> S. Jk I. Ct, 



No mention is here made of the gold out- 
turn. That industry is being pursued iu a 
small way in several of the counties where 



8,504,327 

f, 992,561 

f, 155,583 

3.095,406 

534,061 

351,934 

210,817 

650 

62 

650,664 

7,000,000 

6.760,000 

50,700,00a 



stamp mills are in operation. The mines are not as yet operated sfientifically on a large scale, though Alabama 
has been a gold-producing State for over sixty years. 

The emphasis in the above table is found in the comparison with former years, sliowing the rapid, progres- 
sive and substantial character of the development. The gain has been coutinnous from year to year for more 
than twenty years. 

In 1880 the output of coal was 380,000 tons, in 1890 it was 4,090,400 tons, and in 1900 it was S,504,3'27 tons. 




STEEL MILL AX ENSLEX— Ten: 



; OOAL. iRt.v A- Ha 



In 1880 the production of pig iron was 68,925- 
tons, in 1890 it was 816,911 tons; in 1900 it was 
1,155,583 tons. 

The most impoi'tant fact connected with this 
great development, and lighting up the splendid 
future pf the State, is the simple item that in 1900 
Alabama exported 238,615 tons of pig iron, mainly 
to England and the continent of Europe. An indus- 
try that in its infancy has the world for its market, 
cannot he limited or measured in its future growth 
and expansion. The center of the mineral wealth 
and development of the State is the city of Bir- 
mingham and the county of Jefferson, and the 
record of their growth stirs the pride of all our cit 
izeas. In 1880 the population of Jefferson county 

was 23,272, in 1890 it was 88,501, and in 1900 140,000. 

The growth of Birmingham from a little city of 4,000 people in 1880 to 38,000 in 1900 (and nearly as many 

more in suljurhs covered by her street railways), is marvelous even in this laud of city building. 




FUItXACES AT . 



TIMBER. 

In the matter of timber in Alabama we are confronted by a most plentiful lack of statistics as to the quan- 
tity available for cut, and its value. Except in the matter of yellow pine, no attempt has been made at esti- 
mates. Eoughly speaking, two-thirds of the area is still covered by the native forest growth. The wood of 
chief value is yellow pine. The pine is found principally in two belts, the larger along the gulf coast, though 
streching up to the borders of the middle prairies. The other belt occupies the foot hills between the moun- 




^ 25 



tains aud the prairies. These pine lands 
were, not many years ago, obtainable in large 
quantities at $2 and $3 per acre, but have 
risen much in value with the great increase 
in the demand for the lumber, both for export 
and home consumption. The annual cut of 
yellow pine is now about 700,000,000 feet, 
and the pine forests also contribute largely to 
the turpentine supplies of the country. 

Cypress is abundant along the lower 
rivers, and five mills near Mobile are engaged 
in the production of cypress shingles. The 
principal hardwoods are oak, hickory and 
aslj, the supply of which is well distributed. 
The principal mills are in the northern part 
of the State. Local hardwood factories here 
and there procure local supplies of hickory 
and oak. Cedar is abundant in some locali- 
ties, and there are mills in Madison aud But- 
ler counties. The hardwood wealth of the '■<" f'<>«tinu on mobm-e h.w. ji. & o. k. r. 
State has been hardly touched and is an exceedingly inviting field for development. 

RAIT^ROADS. 

Much might be said of the facilities of railroad transportation in Alabama. This State is the seat of the- 
most important operations of the two greatest southern systems — the Louisville & Nashville and the Southern. 
Railroad. The Central of Georgia, the Plant System, the Seaboard, the K. C., M. & B., and the Illinois Cen- 





N£W5 f/wfr- 5 



BTjACK CRKKK FAT<r,S, GAl>ST>Er«^, AT^.V. 



tral have also important lines, the first named running as many as four feeders through rich sections of the 
coiintry. In 18S0 the railroad mileage of Alabama was 1,851 miles; in 1890 this had increased to 3,244:, and in 
1900 to 4,042 miles. Since the opening of the present year nearly 100 additional miles have been completed 

and put into operation. The large systems are stead- 
ily extending their branch lines and feeders. 

MANUFACTURE S. 

If the progress of a people is to be measured by 
the extent to wiiich ihey incieiise the value of tlieir 
raw material throngli the various processes of manu- 
facture, Alabama is no laggard in the race. The 
advance everywhere is one of those iuduslrial mar- 
vels which has attracted world-wide attention to the 
South as the growing and developing section of tlie 
United States. If pig iron, usually classed here as a 
mineral product, be included in manufactures, we 
have a value in this one item of more than ten mil- 
lions of dollars. She has over half a million cotton 
spindles. She manufactures more cotton gins than 
any State in the Union, the Pratt gin works at Pi att- 
Ax AI.ABAMA F-i...vi.,.s,i 2,1,,.,.. ville, an illustration of which is given elsewhere, 

being the most famous in the world. Her oil mills 
consume all the available cotton seed. Her fertilizer factories supply the bulk of the 200,000 tons of commer- 
cial manure consumed in the State. Her pipe works are six in number and their products go to all parts of the 
world. The value of the saw mill output of the State is over ^5,000,000. Two steel mills are in operation, with 




a combined capacity of 1,160 tons per day. 
The product of fifty iron furnaces is not 
all shipped away as raw material. It is 
being made into steel, wire, engines, sugar 
mills, boilers, plows, bridges, car wheels, 
uuts and bolts, stoves, and an ever-increas- 
ing variety of the articles of commerce. 
Her wheat is made into flour, iher tobacco 
into cigars, her lumber into wagons, furni- 
ture, sashes and doors and blinds, spokes 
and handles; her native stones into build- 
ings, her cloth into clothing and mattresses. 
She has five breweries. She builds more 
freight cars than are required to haul liei- 
increasing products. She manufactures 
Tjrass into articles of use, her broom^corn 
into brooms, the waste of her furnaces and i'hatt gi>- works. pr-»ttv.i,i.e. ala. 

coke ovens into byproducts. She makes crackers and candies, corrugated iron and cement, barrels and powder. 
She manufactures her own ice, turns her ochres into paint, knits stockings and makes trunks. She tans the 
hides of her cattle, and is beginningito spin the wool of her sheep. The increasing variety of her industries 
and their magnitude is nowhere better shown than in the great portland cement works now about to go into 
operation at Demopolis, where a half million dollars is invested. This developing industry is confined to no 
section of the State. The impulse. is among all the people. In the southeast, where the railroads have but 
lately come and where agriculture, 'going hand in hand with lumber mills and cotton factories and fertilizer 
■works, combines to give the greatest increase to population known in the history of the State. In the Tennessee 
Talley, where cotton spinning has its principle seat at Huntsville and iron a leading place at Sheffield and Flor- 




«nce and uiachiue shops at Decatur. In the mountaius, where coal, iron and steel combine with varied manu- 
factures to give pre-einiiieuce to Birmingham, Aiiniston, Talladega, Gadsden and Tuscaloosa. In middle Ala- 
bama, where ^lontgomery, Eufaula, Union Springs, Opelika, Troy, Selraa, Prattville, Demopolis and Greens- 
boro are spinning cotton, grinding cotton seed, making fertilizers, and varying their manufactures year by year. 
On the gulf coast, where the rising commerce of Mobile is accompanied by the spirit of manufacturing industry^ 
Everywhere the thoughts of the people are on the future and their hands are busy in the present. 

Cotton Factories. — Alabama has done her share in the development of the cotton mill industry, and the build- 
ing of new mills goes on apace. It is the one manufacturing industry which is distributed throughout the State, 
one locality being as well adapted to it as another. Nor does the supply of lal)or — as good as any in the world 
and the most tractable — seem greater at one point than another. That the advantages of labor, raw material, 

fuel and climate are on the side of Alabama, is witnessed 
by the fact that some of the largest mills have been built 
by eastern capital and some of these have doubled their 
original capacity. Many of the mills have from time to- 
time enlarged their size out of their own profits. The num- 
ber of cotton factories in Alabama in 1890 was 38. with 
3(57,87-1: spindles and 7,208 looms. The number in the 
beginning of 1900 was -14, the spindles 566,778 and the 
looms 12,892. The number at present, including those 
being built, is about 50. This is a great and rapid growth, 
and one of its most gratifying features is in the small mills 
being built by small communities with money subscribed 
by their own citizens in proportion to their means. The 
superb advantages of every section of Alabama for profit- 
able cloth-making has awakened our people to a knowledge 
of their possibilities. 





ALABAMA RIVER BRIDCiE AT SELMA. 



EDUCATION. 



The haudsome illnstrations of the four leadiug colleges in Alabama leave no. room for doubt that in the- 
higher department of education, Alabama is abreast with the most progressive States. The State University at 
Tuscaloosa, the Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic lustittite at Auburn, and the Girls' Indus- 
trial School at Montevallo, afford the very best modern facilities for the highest and most complete literary and 
industrial training. The illnstrations of the Normal Institute at Tuskegee, the famous school of Booker T. 
V/ashiugton, are selected lo show the practical work which has placed the institution so far at the front of all 
the plans and work of negro education. 

Besides these, the State maintains a medical college at Mobile, four normal scliools for whiles and three for 
negroes, all of which are flourishing institntions. The State also maintains an agricultnral high scliool in each 

congressional district. The Southern University at 
Greensboro and the Owenton College near Birming- 
ham are higher institutions maintained by the Meth- 
oilists, and the Howard College at East Lake, near 
Birmingham, is sustained by the Baptists. There are 
many colleges for young ladies, some of them private 
enterprises and others under the care of the religious 
denominations. The Catholics sustain most excellent 
colleges at Cnllman and Mobile. At Birmingham are 
medical and dental colleges, both being private enter- 
prises. 

Common Schools. — The department of education of 
most general interest is the common school. Within 
the last few years theie has been a great awakening 
upon this subject in Alabama and the State has come- 




>Lt) .SOL'THEKN ytA 




\ fffl-'j^iiiFii 1' 'Wf' I Kill' i«fi?s^*^ ,H'ii>tsti f4| 



S f T^-' 



yyewjt/^*^ 9KbvAJ 



STATK L'NIVKK.-SITY, TU.SC.-VLOOt^ A. 



up to a leading place among the Southern sislerhocul. The people have come to share liberally with education 
the increased wealth iii.d prosperity of farm, forge and mine. The enlightened appreciation of the common 
school is not couliiied to any class, but the growing appropriations are the spontaneous answer to a universal 
willingness to he tuxed f.)r this one purpose to whatever extent may be necessary. In all the larger cities and 
towns, modern and well e(iuipped school houses have been and are being built, the money being generally 

derived from the sale of municipal 
bonds. Many of these buildings are 
\ ery handsome and imposing and some 
have cost as high as *,50,000. All of 
the incorporated towns contribute out 
of municipal taxes to the school fund. 
Thus while the State Treasury contrib- 
utes .f 1,100,000 per annum to the com- 
mon schools, this by no means measures 
the whole amount of the fund derived 
from taxation. The growth of public 
education in Alabama is well shown by 
the following comparisons of amounts 
drawn from the State and municipal 
treasuries: lu 1880, $650,000; in 1890, 
$775,000; in 1900, .fl,.500,000. 

Under positive law iu Alabama, 
every township must maintain a com- 
mon school for five months of each year, 
and thus is education guaranteed to th« 
children of the remotest communitT 

MILLIIMKKY ROOM. TT7SKEGKE TISISTITUTE. i»iuv^LCOI/ v^u 111 HI u U 1 1 J . 




The school fuuds are divided among the races iu proportion to children of school age. 

Benevolence. — If the highest civilization of a people is manifested in the care bestowed by the government 
on the unfortunates, Alabama has no cause to blnsh. Upon the education of tiie deaf and the dumb and the 
blind, she expended in 1900 the sum ot •'?t>0,(;il.S6. This is not a tixed amount, but the appropriation is so 
much per pupil, audlevery little unfortunate iu^the 
State can go, without money aud without price, and 
learn all that modern science and expert teaching 
permits them to know. 

Under the same head may be put the expendi- 
ture of $1.52,178.00 for the Insane Hospital, one of 
the leading and most progressive institutions of the 
kind in America. Here, too, the generous policy is 
pursued of appropriations per capita, .so that the 
door is never shut on any applicant because the 
money is exhausted. The main hospital is at Tusca- 
loosa, with a branch for colored insane at Mount Ver 
uon, in Mobile county. 

FORElGJs" TRADE. 

Alabama has a single seaport — Mobile. Her trade 
■with foreign countries, however, is by no means to 
be estimated by what goes through that single gate- 
way. Her cotton aud iron are well distributed to all 
the gulf and South Atlantic ports, while Peusacola is 
the rival of Mobile iu the exportation of Alabama 




coal and Inniber Thus in determining, the volume of the total exports, we are reduced to estimates ba.ed oa 
known value of the leading articles. Cotton raw, manufactured and in oil and meal from the see.l ficrures at 
ovei- $00,000,000 Mr. E. E. England, Secretary of the Mobile Chamber of Commerce, our higle 't ar.thority 
on the subject estimates the total foreign trade of the State at over *100,000,000. With the increasing export 
of pig H-on and steel, and the increase in value of cotton sent abroad in the manufactured state, Alabanm's con- 
tribution to the tore.gn trade ot the country will in the near future exceed the above gratifying estimate. The 

th"is Stl". " '■',"" 'T "i^'^ '■"' '' "" '"""' '' ^'*"^^'"" *^" unprecedented development, the coal of 
thi S a e being the nearest in distance and the least in price of any deposits in the world. It is n^w laid down 
in Mobile at a freight rate of $1.25 per ton, and the tesc of the panic in the early nineties showed that the mines 
could live and put their output on board the cars at 
less than $1.00 per ton. The greatness of the future 
of the State, when work shall once begin on the water 
_ way between the oceans, cannot be measured by the 
estimates of her most sanguine citizens, for the stim- 
ulus will affect every interest in her borders. Mobile 
has already a great trade with the countries and states 
around the gulf, some glimpse of which is given in 
the picture of a banana warehouse on another page. 
Her trade in this fruit is larger than that ot am (Mt\ 
in the country, and the whole country is supi)lied In 
the long train loads that leave her wharves. < o<il 
from the Birmingham fields goes through her gates to 
supply the railroads and factories of Mexico. With 
Cuba, Mobile does a larger business than any ( it\ m 
the country except New York, the commerce of lli. 
West showing a steady drift our way for an outlet. 




JLXIIEKN MAJ 




IITDUSTRIAL, SCHOOL. FOR GIHL8. MO>fT«!VA.Li:X>. ALA. 



POPULATION BY COUNTIES. 



Counties, 

Total 

Autauga 

Baldwin 

Barliour 

Bibb 

Blount 

Bullock 

Butler 

Calhoun 

Chambers 

Cherokee 

Chilton 

Choctaw 

Clarke _. 

Clay 

Cleburue . 

Cotfee 

Colbert 

Conecuh 

Coosa .. 

Covinston 

Oreiisliaw 

Cullman 

Dale 

Dallas 

DeKalb 

Elmore 

Escambia 

Etowah 

Fayette __ 

Franklin 

Cxeneva 

Greene 

Hale ^ 



1880 



1,262,505 
13,108 

8,60H 
33,979 

9,487 
15,369 
29,066 
19,649 
19,591 
23,440 
19,108 
10,793 
15,731 
17,806 
]2,9i8 
10,976 

8,119 
16,153 
12,605 
15,113 

5,639 
11,726 

6.355 
12,6 
48,433 
12,1 
17.502 

5,719 
15,398 
10,135 

9.155 

4,342 
21,931 
26.553 



1890 
1,613,017 
13,330 
8,941 
34,898 
13,824 
21,927 
27,063 
21,641 
33,835 
26,319 
20, J 59 
14,549 
1 7,526 
22,624 
15,765 
13,2 18i 
12,170 
20,189 

14 594 

15 906 

15'42 
13,439 
17,225 
49,350 
21 106 
21.732 
8,666 
21,926 
12,823 
10,681 
10,690 
22,007 
27,501 



1900 

,828,6971 
17,915 
13,194j 
35,152| 
18,49SI 
23,119, 
31,944! 
25,761 
34,874| 
32,554| 
21,096i 
16,522 
18,136' 
27,7!t() 
17,099. 
13 201)1 
20,972, 
•;2,341 
17,5141 
16,144 
15,3 ili 
19,66S 
17,849 
21.189 
54,657 
23,558 
26,099 
11,32(1 
27,361 
14,132 
16,51 1 
19,096 
24,182 
31,011 



Counties. 



Heury 

Jackson 

Jeflerson 

Lamar 

Lauderdale . 

Lawrence 

Lee 

Limestone ._ 

Lowndes 

Macou 

Madison 

Marengo 

.Marion 

Marshall 

Mobile 

Monroe ._ 

Mont.gomery 

Morgan 

Perry 

Pickens 

Pike 

Randolph^-- 

Russell 

St. CJlair 

Shelby 

Sumter 

Talladega .__ 

Tulhi] sa ._ 

Tu.'^caluosa ., 

Walker 

Washington 

Wilcox 

Winston 



1880 



18,761 
25,114 
23 272 
12,142 
21,0.35 
21,392 
27,262 
21,600 
31,176 
17,371 
3/. 625 
30,890 

9,364 
14,-585 
48,653 
17.091 
52,3.56 
16,428 
30,741 
21,479 
20,640 
16,.575 
24,837 
14,462 
17,2.36 
28,728 
23,360 
23,401 
24,957 

9,479 

■1,5.3,S 
31,828 

4.2.53 



24,84 

28,026 

88.501 

14,187 

23.739 

20,725 

28,694 

21.201 

31,550 

18,439 

38,119 

33,095 

11,34; 

18,935 

51.587 

18,990 

56,172 

24.089 

29,332 

22,470 

24.423 

17,219 

24,093 

17,.3.53 

20,88) 

29,574 

29,346 

25,460 

,30,3.52 

16,078 

7.935 
30,816 

6,552 



36,147 
30,508 
140,420 
16,084 
26,559 
20,124 
31,826 
22,837 
35.651 
23,126 
43.702 
38,315 
14,494 
23,289 
62,740 
23.666 
72,047 
28,820 
31,783 
24 402 
29,172 
21,647 
27,0.S3 
19,425 
23,684 
32.710 
35.773 
29,675 
36,147 
25,162 
11,1.34 
35,631 
9,554 






SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND, TA LL A L)Kti A. 



A\ ATER POWER. 

Whatever luav l)e the rank of Alabama among her sister States iu the extent and \ariety ot her resources- 
and her products, we l)elie\ e .she hukls the lirst phiee in the number, length and volume of her streams that 
alford po^^■er for moving machinery. These are not confined to creeks or even the smaller ri\ers, but to streams 
of such note as the Tennessee, the Coosa and the Warrior. The long falls and rapids of the Coosa above 
■\Vetumpka, even shoidd they be made navigable by locks, would \et supply power enough with the surplus 
■watei's, to t\-.rn all tiie machiner\ now in the .-tate. The project to utilize the vast volume of water that flows 

around tlie locks on the Tennessee, is an old one, 
and will \ et be cairied out when industrial devel- 
cjimcnt in that \ alley has gained more strength. 
'1 he A\ arrior is a ri\ er of falls and high banks. 
'I he Sipsey and other tributaries of the \\"arrior 
are large enough to he dignified with the luimes of 
ii\ ers. The Tallapoosa, above the head of naviga- 
tion, turns (0,000 spindles with hardly an impres- 
sion on its capacity. The same stream has been 
utilized to liring an unlimited supply of electric 
po«er to Montgomery, a distance of forty miles. 
The great power of the Chattahoochee, which turns 
the spindles at Columbus, Ga., is the line between 
the States, and some of the mills are on the Ala- 
lianui side. 'J he Conecuh, the < hoctawhatchie and 
the Pea arc long ri\ ers of Southeast Alabama, nav- 
igalile far down, but capable above the head of 
navigation of sujjplying power to spin all the cot- 
ton raised in the State. Outside the prairie levels,. 




there is hardly a neighborhood without water power to grind its coin and gin its cotton. A hundred creeks rua 
from the hills with power to operate the largest cotton mills of the country. Coming long distances through the 
wooded hills and mountains, the streams of Alabama do not go dry in summer, and reserve reservoirs have not 
been found necessary-. These could be made to increase the water power of the State to an indefinite and limit- 
less amount. 

If it be true that the long tendency to give steam the preference over water, has aliout run its coiu'se, and 
that nature's power is coming into its own again, then Alabama is the most inviting of all the States for manu- 
facturing in which cheap power is a consideration. If it l)e true that cotton mills do best when off siniiewhat to 
themselves, the numerous sites by the rivers of Ala- 
bama invite the mill builder's attention, sites reached 
by a few miles of branch railroad. 

IMMIGRATION. 

Alabama has a cordial welcome lor the iKinic 
seeker. Ihe object of this pamphlet is not merely t(j 
call the attention of capital to the resources and to 
the protilable use l)eing made of money in this State. 
Investment in commercial and industrial enterprises 
is sought and encouraged. It l)euetits all the people. 
All the people welcome it, and there is no disposition 
by any influential section of public opinion to deny 
to capital the most liberal encouragement. But the 
Agricultural Department of the State, by which this 
pamphlet is issued and l>y which all displays are 
made at expositions, is primarily concerned with the mec-hanic-al room, tcskegee i-n.-^titute. 




Is there objectiou to CMMiiiiig amonj;; the negroes? 



home seeker, the man wlm Mill come and be one of the people and till the soil and lielp build up llie rural w t-alth 

and social life of the State. 

Thousands of good citizt'us ha\e ali'eady come. The people are anxious foi' more. The time has long g(me 

by when the northern man or the foreigner had any prejudice to encounter. He stands among his neighbors on 

his merits. Many have come singly, others in colonies. They have found comfort, a fruitful soil, a generous 

climate, a hospitable people. 

0^er half the State is without any. The whites iu the 
districts where the negroes are mainly congregated, do 
not wish to part with them. The white sections do 
not seek their coming. In the black belt, laud-own- 
ing is as profitable as land- working. The negi'o is a 
profitable tenant. The investment is inviting. But 
if the home-seeker wants a home among the whites, 
over half the State holds out the invitation. The soil, 
climate and products and conditions of life ai'e as they 
iiave been described. The growth of mines, factories, 
railroads and commerce, gives assurance that markets 
will increase and wealth increase and the State grow 
in power ami ability to do more and more for the 
education, the protection and the encouragement of 
her people. 

The people of Alabauia are religious and moral. All 

chui-ches are strong and contend with each other on a 

liberal plane. Church and school-house go side by 

side, separate and independeut, but offering a joint 

PHYsioAi, LABOKATOKv. tTNivEKsiTv. iuvitatiou to uicu legardful of their posterity. 





A. &; M. College and Rolvtechxic Institute. AtriiORN. 



CITIES OF OVER 1,000 POPULATION. 



Alabama City... 
Alexander City. 

Anuistou 

Athens 

Attalla 

Auburn 

Avondale 

Bessemer 

Birmingham 

Brewtou 

Bridfj;epi)rt 

Columbiana ._ .. 

Cullman 

Dadeville 

Decatur 

Demopolis 

Dothan 

Ensley City 

Eufaula 

Eutaw 

Evergreen 

Florence 

Ft. Deposit 

Ft. Payne 

Gadsden 

Geneva 

Girard 

Greensboro 

Greenville 

Huntsville 

Jackson 



,998 
940 
,254 
,440 
,642 
,.544 
,178 
,115 



6.54 
,017 

873 
i,765 



,394 
,115 
,783 
1,012 

618 
i,698 
1,901 

637 



,759 
;,806 
,995 



2,276 
1,061 
9,695 
1,010 
1,692 
1,447 
3,060 
6,358 
38,415 
1,382 
1,247 
1,075 
1,2.55 
l,l.':i6 
3,114 
2,606 
3,275 
2,100 
4,532 
884 
2,458 
6,478 
1,078 
1,037 
4,282 
1,032 
3,840 
2,416 
3,162 
8,068 
1,039 



Jacksonville 

Jasper 

LaFayette 

Lanette 

Marion 

Mobile 

Montgomery __ 
New Decatur.. 

Opelika 

Oxanna 

Oxford 

Ozark 

Phcjenix City._ 

Piedmont 

Pratt Citv 

Prattville _..:.. 

Kuan. ike 

Kussellville 

Seottsboro 

Kelma 

Sheffield 

Talladega 

Troy 

Tuscaloosa 

Tuscumbia 

Tuskegee 

Union Springs. 

Uniontown 

Warrior 

Wilsonville 

Woodlawu 



1,237 

780 

1,369 

777 

1,982 

31.076 

21,883 

3,565 

3,703 

748 

1,473 

1,195 

3,700 

711 

1,946 

724 

631 

920 

959 

7,622 

2,731 

2,063 

3,449 

4,215 

2,401 

1,803 

2,049 

854 



1,506 



1,176 
1,661 
1,629 
2,909 
1,698 
38,469 
30,.S46 
4,437 
4,245 
1,184 
1,372 
1,570 
4,163 
1,745 
3,485 
1,929 
1,155 
1,602 
1,014 
8.713 
3,333 
5,056 
4,097 
5,094 
2,348 
2,170 
2,634 
1,047 
1,018 
1,095 




THE ALABAMA WHEAT HAKVE-ST. 



CITY GRO\^^TH. 



Ill these days, it is coiiunoii to attiieli great importauce to the growth of cities as the better iiidex to the 
growth and progress of States. The reason of this is self evident. Since the settlement of the West, the race 
of development has been in the line of manufactnres, and more uianufactni'es means more cities and larger cities. 
Hence the value of the table on another i)age, showing the population of the cities of Alabama at the beginning- 
and the end of the last dcca<lc. Tlic few cases of loss are due to boom tigui'es in 1890. There are a few cases, 

too, where no figures are given for 1890, of towns not 
then in existence oi- not then incorporated. Xotalde 
among these arc (iiraid and Alabama City, both of 
which are built up aiouiul cotton factories of recent 
construction. 

Birmingham is the most noteworthy, as it is the 
l)est known example of city building not only in Ala- 
bama, l)ut in the Southern States, being without a 
rival south of the Ohio river. Her growth is jjartly 
due to commerce and partly to manufactures. Dothan 
has grown faster than any city iu the history ol Ala- 
bama, and nearly all of it is commercial. Railroads 
and the settling up of Southeast Alaliama by small 
\\ liite fanners have made it a center of growth. 

Mobile and Montgomery both show rai>id growth, 
Ibr which mauufactiu-es are largely responsible.. 
Other cities and towns showing remarkable progress 
are Talladega, Pieflinout and Eussellville, the result 
of mini ug or manufacturing. In Southeast Alabama 




OHBMICAI. LABORATORY. rTNT 



all tlu' (owns have t;i'(i\vii, luaiiily from comiuerce with saw Jiiills and new settlers. 

The growl h ot Greeusboro and Deinopolis indicates the jirogiess ot the black belt, and pi'o\i-s that the pres- 
ence of the negro is not a bar to the npltuilding of the country. 

The growth of the cities of the State shows tliat all sections have their advantages and are \ icing \\ ith each 
other. There is growtli in the luonnlains, in the jirairies, among the pines 
and on the gulf. Nature has done her part in Alal)ania. At every point, 
her newly awakened and enterprising men are doing theirs. 

SCENERY. 

A word in conclusion about the nalnial scenei'y in Alabama, for it is 
worth attention from lovers of the beautiful. We haven't any towering 
monutains, but the gentle slopes and far perspectives that eharactei'ize the 
feet of the AUeglienies, are none the less beautiful for want of grandeur. 
Even the latter quality is here in some measure among the broken ledges, 
which please where they do not awe. There are river scenes in Alabama 
which rival the Hud.soii. notable among them being stretches of the Ten- 
nessee between Chattanooga and Decatur, famous in the old steamljoat 
days. The Black Creek falls, near Gadsden, a picture of which adoins 
another page, is one of the most Vieautiful in the world, and it is not by 
itself in appealing to the lover of nature. The traveler nowhere sees a 

more varied and picturesque series of landscapes than greet his eyes from r 'SivJ* 

the decks of an Alabama river steamer. At Mobile and in the surround- 
ing country, the peculiar foliage and wide-stretching forests of the gulf 
are seen to the best advantage, and the increasing flow of Southern tourists 
is every winter spreading their fame. 



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LIBRfiRY OF CONGRESS 



014 497 214 4 



ALFATjFA HA_RVEST Farm of- Jno. C. Webb. Marencjo Codntt. 



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